Artists have a responsibility to reflect and mirror society back to the public, according to Lake Country Art Gallery curator Wanda Lock.

The artists at the latest gallery exhibition, called Man Overboard, do just that.

Man is a metaphor for mankind and the concept of mankind falling overboard is relevant to recent events, like President Donald Trump鈥檚 disagreements with North Korea, climate change and more, said Lock.

The exhibition features five artists, four of which are from the Okanagan.

The aim is to get people questioning the state of the world, said Lock. And the artists鈥� works provide the queries.

Vancouver artist Deirdre Hofer鈥檚 video Melting Vanilla/We Could Be Heroes features a projection of melting vanilla ice cream cone on the ground as David Bowie鈥檚 Heroes plays in the background.

鈥淚鈥檓 interested in food in art, especially food we consume as a culture for fun,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 innocent, kids like them, adults like them.鈥�

She described the ice cream on the ground as 鈥渢ragic鈥� for the loss of anticipated pleasure.

It also relates to death, with the slow devolution of the cone, she said. Heroes, was a fitting song as it follows the story of two doomed Berlin-wall lovers.

鈥淚t鈥檚 this idea of being great for just a moment and knowing it鈥檚 not going to last,鈥� she said.

Hofer liked the contrast between the deep theme of the song and the simplicity of the ice cream cone, making it ironic and adding to the angst of the loss of the ice cream.

Lake Country artist Rose Braun鈥檚 painting displays a different sort of loss.

Two hooded figures wearing suits and ties sit with a Russian catchphrase that runs along the left side of the painting. The phrase means if you have something and you don鈥檛 take care of it, when you lose it, you cry, said Braun.

The idea for the hooded figures came from a place along High Road, with hooded straw figures leaning against a fence, she said.

鈥淚 just loved those guys. My people had faces before, but then I liked that kind of hooded business. It can be kind of brutal鈥� it could be for disguise and also the anonymity, it鈥檚 not a specific person,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 like to see how much gesture and character you can get into (a piece) without a lot of information.鈥�

The artist鈥檚 work will be on display as part of Man Overboard at the Lake Country Art Gallery until Nov. 18.

carli.berry@kelownacapnews.com
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